Results of a study of the therapeutic portacaval shunt for treatment of esophageal varices indicate no significant improval in survival as a result of portal decompression. Surgical patients, however, experience significantly fewer episodes of subsequent gastrointestinal hemorrhage after randomization. When surgical patients were separated on the basis of type of shunt employed, the end-to-side shunt appeared to be associated with a trend toward longer survival than the side-to-side anastomosis and non-operative therapy. A prospective controlled trial of 6-methylprednisolone in the management of acute alcoholic hepatitis indicated no improvement in survival during an 8-week in-hospital study. Treatment failure was not associated with excessive corticosteroid toxicity, but appeared to be primarily related to the patient's state at time of selection, i.e., survival could be correlated with the feasibility of biopsy at the time of admission to the study in both the steroid and placebo groups. A prospective controlled trial of penicillamine in the management of acute alcoholic hepatitis indicated no change with respect to survival experience or liver function tests. However, tentative and preliminary data suggest a reduction in fibrosis and hepatocellular injury in penicillamine-treated subjects on the basis of "blind" interpretation of the biopsy material.